Jackie Guerrero

Medical Assistant, WellMed at Portland, Portland, Texas

Medical Assistant Jackie Guerrero couldn’t understand the patient on the other end of the line. It was supposed to be a routine follow-up phone call. It turned into nearly an hour of providing comfort and care to a terrified person having a stroke.

“I could hear him breathing and some rustling noises, so I knew he was still awake,” said Jackie, who works at WellMed at Portland in the Corpus Christi market. “I kept asking him if he needed help, and he wasn’t able to talk to me. Then he finally uttered a quiet, ‘Ya.’ ”

Her teammates notified emergency services, but the patient lived in a remote area more than an hour’s drive from any medical services. So Jackie stayed on the phone and assured him that help was on the way.

EMS technicians finally arrived. They asked the patient if there was someone they should talk to. He pointed to the phone, where Jackie was still on the line.

“I needed to make sure he was going to be taken care of,” Jackie said.

The patient was treated in Corpus Christi and then transported to a stroke unit in Houston where he continues to recover.